Table Of ContentStrike-breaking or the Refusal of Subalternity?
Ethnicity, Class and Gender in Chota Nagpur
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V.V. Giri National Labour Institute
ISBN: 978-93-82902-52-2
Copyright © V.V. Giri National Labour Institute, Noida
No. of Copies : 300
Year of Publication : 2017
This document can be downloaded from the Institute’s website at
www.vvgnli.org
Opinions expressed in the study are solely of the author and do not
necessarily reflect the views of the Institute.
Printed and Published by V.V. Giri National Labour Institute, Sector – 24,
Noida – 201301, U.P.
Printed at: Chandu Press, D-97, Shakarpur, Delhi -110092
Preface
The Integrated Labour History Research Programme, a collaborative
professional endeavour of V.V. Giri National Labour Institute and
Association of Indian Labour Historians was initiated in July 1998 with
the objective of initiating, integrating and reviving historical research
on labour history. The programme has now emerged as one of the most
important professional activities related to labour history globally. The
programme has three mutually reinforcing components: Digital Archives
of Indian Labour; Writing Labour History; Interdisciplinary research.
Leading scholars and practitioners have contributed their research papers
as a part of the Writing Labour History component. This research paper,
Strike-breaking or the Refusal of Subalternity? Ethnicity, Class and Gender in
Chota Nagpur by Dr. Dilip Simeon is one of the important contributions in
this regard.
Dr. Dilip Simeon’s essay takes us back to the tumultuous period in Indian
Labour History i.e 1937-1939 when for the first time Congress acquired
power at the Provincial level under the Government of Indian Act of 1935.
This crucial period saw an upsurge in popular movements of peasants,
workers and other groups whose diverse aspirations were to be represented
by the newly formed Congress Governments. Following on the prolonged
effects of the Great Depression and waves of rationalisation, there was a
spate of labour protests which affected industries all over India, especially
in the provinces where Congress was in power. Dr. Simeon takes up the
case of alleged strike breaking activity by ‘Adivasi women workers’ in a
Tatanagar Foundry and weaves in the story of the labour movement of the
region where nationalists of various shades, radicals and regional leaders
competed for the labour constituency.
A careful reading of the strike waves of this period in the Chota Nagpur
region of present Jharkhand region allows Dr. Simeon to delineate
the intertwined strands of strands of ethnic, gender, regional and class
consciousness revealed in the actions of the workers and their leaders.
Dr. Simeon takes care to distinguish between the aspirations and demands
of the workers and the agenda of their ‘controllers’ thereby giving us a
fascinating account of the political contours of the labour movement
where the contest between nationalism and colonial state and the different
groups of employers was mixed up with ethnic and regional struggle
for leadership. In this exemplary study on the ‘new political history of
labour’, Dr. Simeon interweaves dense archival documentation with
sophisticated theory to answer some of the most important questions
of the discipline of labour history. How do we understand the multiple
iiii
PREFACE
India is at a very important juncture of the development process. With
growth expected to scale up exponentially, the country is emerging
as one of the strongest economies of the world. An imperative is
to make the distribution of the benefits of this growth equitable, to
make certain that the fruits of development percolate to all sections
of society. One of the most vital needs in this respect is to ensure
quality employment for all and address labour issues because this
aspect is directly linked to the livelihood of the masses.
Questions confronting the country in relation to labour are
many and varied, ranging from concerns about employment and
underemployment to social security for workers to elimination
of child labour. Considering the range and magnitude of India’s
labour issues it is important to involve different stakeholders in
the process of finding solutions. This constructive engagement of
stakeholders is possible if information and ideas related to labour
and often contradictaorer ym acdoe- eaxcciesstseinblcee. of various identities of the workers?
Given the rapidly changing landscape of labour with the apparent decline
It is with this perspective that the V.V. Giri National Labour
of the organised labour under the ongoing pressure of globalisation and
Institute has brought out this handbook, which seeks to consolidate
technological change, I believe Dr. Simeon’s work is a timely reminder of
basic information relating to key dimensions of the labour scenario
the continuing relevance of the wider labour movement in shaping the
in India. The idea is to provide relevant information in a simple,
course of Modern India.
comprehensible way that makes it accessible to the broad spectrum
of society. The handbook is being translated into different Indian
I would like to express sincere appreciation to Dr. Dilip Simeon for this
languages.
important contribution. We are also honored that Dilip Simeon has been
actively involved wiOthu rt hheo Ipne teisg rthaatte dth Le aHbaonudbro Hoki sotf oLrayb oRuer sbeeacrocmhe P arno gimrapmormtanet
ever since its inceptiroefne.r ence tool in the process of evolving policies and actions relating
to labour in India, and thus contributes to the country’s equitable
I sincerely hope that researchers and practitioners concerned with labour
growth.
studies will find this article enriching and inspiring.
Manish Kumar Gupta
(Manish Kumar Gupta)
Director General
Director General
V.V. Giri National Labour Institute
V.V. Giri National Labour Institute
Strike-breaking or the Refusal of Subalternity?
Ethnicity, Class and Gender in Chota Nagpur
Dilip Simeon
Introduction1
Late in August 1939, there took place a strike in a small iron foundry in
Jamshedpur, the premiere steel city of colonial India. Its owners were a
local Bengali businessman and a Marwari entrepreneur from Calcutta. The
workforce consisted of a little over two thousand five hundred workers,
most of them Adivasis (`tribal’ peoples)2 and Oriyas, with a few hundred
workers from north Bihar and the Gangetic plain. A large proportion -
possibly upto 40 percent, were women. The management was known for
being arbitrary, even by the notoriously low standards of the capitalists of
this young company town. Their workers were low paid, with virtually
no security - at the beginning of the year hundreds of hands had been
discharged. The President of their union was the charismatic Congressman
Abdul Bari, who was also the Deputy Speaker of the Bihar Legislative
Assembly. Trouble at the workplace had resulted in spontaneous
demonstrations, as was not uncommon in the area in those times. In the
ensuing developments the management used their links with the emerging
leader of the Adibasi Mahasabha, Jaipal Singh and the Oriya Congressman
Nilkantha Das to convince the bulk of their workers to remain at work.
They were abetted by Bari’s chief rival in Jamshedpur, Maneck Homi,
who had led a famous general strike in TISCO in 1928.3 By November the
strike had ended and historic developments such as the outbreak of world
war, the resignation of provincial Congress ministries nation-wide and the
promulgation of emergency regulations in industrial areas, had pushed
the plight of the foundry workers into the background of local politics.
1 This paper was presented to the Association of Indian Labour Historians conference
in Delhi. It refers to material presented in my book, The Politics of Labour Under Late
Colonialism: Workers, Trade Unions and the State in Chota Nagpur, 1928-1939 (Delhi, 1995),
hereafter, Politics of Labour). In the following text, RLEC denotes the Report of the Labour
Enquiry Commission (1896), Rees, the Treharne- Rees Report (1919), Deshpande, the Report on
an Enquiry into Conditions of Labour in the Coal Mining Industry in India by S.R. Deshpande
(Delhi, 1946); GOI, the Government of India; RCL, the Royal Commission on Labour
(Calcutta, 1931); NMML, the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library; COI, the Census of
India and BLEC, the Report of the Bihar Labour Enquiry Committee (1940). File references are
from the Bihar State Archives, Patna. Those suffixed NAI are from the National Archives
of India.
2 The term Adivasi occurs in italics throughout the text, except where quoted by the subjects
of the story, who used the version, `Adibasi’.
3 For more information about TISCO; and these events, see chapters 2, 7 and 9 of Politics of
Labour.
2 Strike-breaking or the Refusal of Subalternity?Ethnicity, Class and Gender in Chota Nagpur
Nevertheless, echoes of that event resounded for some time; in political
overtures to Jaipal Singh by the ex-President of the Congress, Subhas
Chandra Bose; in the content of Jaipal Singh’s speech welcoming Bose
to Chota Nagpur; and in the stance of the administration towards union
leaders. A close examination of the strike and its aftermath presents
interesting questions concerning the delineation of historical episodes and
the relative stress to be placed upon their determining elements. Was the
strike a case of ethnic identities being used by the management to sabotage
working-class unity? Why did prominent local personages such as Bari,
Homi, and Jaipal Singh get involved? Why did workers respond to blatant
instigation to strikebreaking, and did they have their own agenda? What
role did gender issues assume? What was the attitude of the bureaucracy
and what was the political significance of the affair? This essay attempts to
unravel the layers of meaning that lie beneath the surface of a long-forgotten
incident. I will argue that it be treated as the first agitational expression of
Adivasi sentiment in a working class movement, fuelled in part by long-
standing resentment amongst tribal women about the misbehavior of up-
country males. Such an interpretation would buttress my argument about
the origins of the Adivasi estate, because the history of industrialisation
and the labour movement in Chota Nagpur is interwoven with ethnic and
gender issues. I will begin with the composition of the workforce during
the thirties and a summary history of the labour movement in Singhbhum.
I will then use juxtapositions from other locales in the area to highlight the
importance of the Tatanagar Foundry strike.
Caste and Gender among the Workers of Chota Nagpur
The Chota Nagpur plateau was the cradle of heavy industrialisation in
colonial India, the home of coal mining, steel manufacture and many other
mining and metallurgical operations. Within Chota Nagpur, the adjacent
districts of Singhbhum and Manbhum attracted a polyglot labouring
population with a heterogenous background.4 Ethnic factors affected
recruitment and job-deployment and often played a significant role in
mobilization.5 The situation was complicated by historical developments
in the 1930’s and the employment of European executives, foremen and
engineers. The presence of white men as better-paid co-workers, or in
positions of immediate authority; not to mention British officials, tended to
heighten racial and national awareness among the workers of the region.6
4 Jamshedpur (also known as Tatanagar) lay in Singhbhum. Manbhum was home to the
Jharia coalfield. In 1956 Manbhum was divided into the districts of Dhanbad and Purulia
(West Bengal).
5 See below, fn. 21.
6 For more information, see fns 30, 49, 55 and 63 below. See also the index entries under
‘racial antagonism’ and ‘racial wage differentials’ in Politics of Labour.
NLI Research Studies Series 3
The Jharia mines began production in 1895. The Tata Iron and Steel
Company (TISCO) was founded in 1907, and began production in 1911.
The World War occasioned a stable demand for coal and steel: the state’s
encouragement of Chota Nagpur’s industries was with an eye to their
strategic import. TISCO devoted nearly all of its capacity to the British war
effort.7 Jamshedpur was a company town, arising in land acquired under
zamindary right.8 Its municipal services were undertaken by the company
and its associates. Steel production rose to 800,000 tons in 1939.9 Allied
industrial establishments in Jamshedpur included the Tinplate Company,
the Cable Company, the Copper Corporation, the Indian Steel and Wire
Products Company, the Tatanagar Foundry, and railway workshops, all
of which employed 14,352 blue collar workers in 1938.10
TISCO aimed at stabilising a large skilled workforce in a modern industrial
township.11 Jamshedpur had an intermittently employed `coolie’ class
recruited in its hinterland and a more stable skilled labour force recruited
further afield.12 The population included a large proportion of non-Bihari
immigrants (53.5% in 1931) many of whom were skilled workers.13 There
were European and American `covenanted’ staff at TISCO, Germans in the
Wire Products factory, and Englishmen in the copper mines at Mosaboni
(Singhbhum).14 Semi-skilled workers (khalasis) were about equal in number
to skilled workers. About half of the unskilled workers were natives of
Singhbhum.15 According to the 1921 census, 22% of Jamshedpur’s unskilled
workers were Adivasis, consisting of Bhuiyans, Bauris, Mundas, Hos, Santhals,
Oraons. Mundas with 9% were the largest group, Muslims were another
9% and various other service and artisan castes made up 6%.16 Women
7 AK Bagchi, Private Investment in India, (Delhi, 1972), pp. 304-306.
8 5.5 square miles of land were acquired in 1909 from the Bengal government under the
Land Acquisition Act of 1894 and nearly 20 more from Bihar & Orissa in 1918-20. The
land was exempt from the payment of revenue: PC Roy Chaudhury, Singhbhum District
Gazeteer, (Patna, 1958), pp. 293 - 296.
9 See chapter 1 of Politics of labour.
10 BLEC, vol.3-B, Books 1 and 2. All figures exclude clerical and supervisory staff.
11 However, between 1927 and 1938, there was a marked increase in casual employment:
RCL, vol.4 (1), p. 147; and RK Mukherjee, The Indian Working Class, (Bombay 1945), pp.
50-51.
12 The term `coolie’ denoted the lowest status of manual labourer. Inverted commas have
been dispensed with for the remainder of the text.
13 COI, 1921, vol 7 (1), p. 105 & 108; vol 7 (2), Table 22 and RCL, vol 4 (1), p. 146.
14 See chapter 1 of Politics of labour.
15 COI, 1921, vol. 7 (1), p. 279; and RCL, vol 4, (1), p. 3 and 4, and COI, 1921 vol 7, (2), Table
22.
16 COI 1921, vol 7 (2), Table 22. Since 28% of the skilled and 38% of the unskilled workers
were classed as `unspecified’, it is difficult to arrive at a more precise estimate of the
distribution of castes.
4 Strike-breaking or the Refusal of Subalternity?Ethnicity, Class and Gender in Chota Nagpur
coolies (rezas) formed 35.6% of the urban unskilled workforce and were
the only women in industrial employment. The city’s manufactories had a
high turnover rate: half its unskilled workforce did not work continuously
even for a year.17 The prolonged periodic absence of many skilled workers
led to the gradual stabilization of a reserve of trained workers.18
In the coalfields, the Adivasis accounted for nearly 49% of the `actual
workers’ taken as a whole; and together with the `Depressed Classes’
(or so-called `untouchables’) accounted for 87% of those who cut coal.19
Until 1921, although the number of female coal hewers was small, women
comprised nearly half of the coolies, loading and carrying coal above
and below ground.20 They formed 38% of Adivasi workers and 55% of
Adivasi coolies. Nearly 90% of the coolies were `low-caste’. The overall
picture is one of a coolie proletariat dominated by tribals, including a
large number of women.21 But their employment was subject to change.
Women constituted 37.5% of the workforce in 1920, declining to 25.4% in
1929, the year that the central government ordered their gradual exclusion
from underground work. This fell to 13.8% in 1935 and 11.5% in 1938 - a
trend linked to mechanisation and the eclipse of family labour - rezas were
predominantly tribal. A contributory factor was the slump in coal prices
in the mid-thirties, and the resultant closures of several small and under-
mechanised enterprises.22
In an economy with a sluggish rate of mechanization, female labour was
crucial for industries requiring large amounts of physical energy. Women
workers in mining were paid less than males doing the same jobs - in
the 1850’s they earned two-thirds of the daily wages of male workers
and at the height of the overproduction crisis in the mid-1930’s, were
17 RCL, vol 4 (1), pp. 147 and 15.
18 RCL, vol 4 (1), p. 147, and vol 4 (2), pp. 411-12.
19 Subsidiary Table 12, in COI, 1921, vol 7 (1), chapter 12.
20 ibid.
21 Colliery owners explained shortages of labour as a function of competition with Assam
tea garden recruitment, and wanted to reserve Chota Nagpur Division for colliery
recruitment: See RCL, vol 4 (1) p. 212; and Rees, p. 78. For more material on ethnicity and
recruitment, see Rana Behal and Prabhu Mohapatra, “Tea and Money versus Human
Life”; Occasional Paper XLIX, (NMML), New Delhi, 1992; Prabhu Mohapatra, “Coolies
and Colliers: A Study of the Agrarian Context of Labour Migration from Chota Nagpur,
1880-1920”, in Studies in History, vol.1 (2), 1985; Simeon, “Jharkhand: Community or
Proletariat?”, in Nirmal Sengupta (ed)., Fourth World Dynamics: Jharkhand, (Delhi, 1982),
and Politics of Labour, chapter 1.
22 RCL, p. 127; BR Seth, Labour in the Indian Coal Industry, (Bombay, 1940), pp. 140-141; and
Mukerjee, Working Class, p. 82. Other statistics on coal miners in British India put the
number of women for every ten males at 5.6 in 1915, 6.1 in 1920, 4.8 in 1925, 2.7 in 1930
and 1.6 in 1935, rising to 3.6 in 1944, the year after the ban on female labour underground
was lifted temporarily: Deshpande, pp. 18-19.
